Written questions by McMurdock.

What discussions she has had with her international counterparts about (a) policing fraud and (b) convicting perpetrators of fraud.

The Home Office continues to work closely with a range of partners, both bilaterally and through a range of multilateral fora, to tackle the fraud threat following the UK hosted Global Fraud Summit.We also work closely with key overseas partners to target fraud at its source. By collaborating with governments across the world, we are making it harder for organised crime groups to operate across borders and to target prospective victims in the UK.

What steps he is taking to increase the number of walk-in centres.

Integrated commissioning boards, in their commissioning of unscheduled and urgent care services, are responsible for determining where services will be most effective, and this may be co-located with the local emergency department or be a standalone service either on or off a hospital site.

What steps she is taking to improve teacher (a) recruitment and (b) retention in (i) Essex and (ii) South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency.

​​​Delivering the government’s mission to break down the barriers to opportunity for every child relies on a highly skilled workforce in schools, with evidence demonstrating that high-quality teaching is the in-school factor that makes the biggest difference to a child’s outcomes.​​There are now 468,693 full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers in state-funded schools in England, but numbers have not kept pace with demand. This is why the government has set out the ambition to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers across our schools, both mainstream and specialist, and our colleges over the course of this Parliament.The department has made good early progress towards this key pledge by ensuring teaching is once again an attractive and respected profession, key to which is ensuring teachers receive the pay they deserve. We have accepted in full the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendation of a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools for 2024/25. Alongside teacher pay, we have made £233 million available from the 2025/26 recruitment cycle to support teacher trainees with tax-free bursaries of up to £29,000 and scholarships of up to £31,000 in shortage subjects. The department has also expanded its school teacher recruitment campaign, ‘Every Lesson Shapes a Life’, and the further education teacher recruitment campaign ‘Share your Skills’.A successful recruitment strategy starts with a strong retention strategy, and new teachers of mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing in the first five years of their careers will now receive a Targeted Retention Incentive of up to £6,000, after-tax, if working in disadvantaged schools. There are four schools in South Basildon and East Thurrock that are eligible for Targeted Retention Incentives.The department is also working closely with teachers and school leaders to improve workload and wellbeing. This includes introducing a new school report card to in place of Ofsted’s single headline grades, to provide a clearer picture of schools’ strengths and weaknesses for parents and more proportionate accountability for staff. It also includes promoting flexible working, such as allowing planning, preparation and assessment time to be taken from home, and making key resources to support wellbeing, developed with school leaders, available to teachers.The department is also funding bespoke support provided by flexible working ambassador schools and multi-academy trusts, to ensure schools are able to capture the benefits of flexible working whilst protecting pupils’ face-to-face teacher time. The named flexible working ambassador for schools in South Basildon and East Thurrock is Thomas Gainsborough school, part of Unity Schools Partnership.High-quality continuous professional development is also key to ensuring we have and retain an effective teaching workforce. ​The department has established Teaching School Hubs across the country, which provide approved high-quality professional development to teachers at all stages of their careers. These Hubs play a significant role in delivering Initial Teacher Training, the Early Career Framework, National Professional Qualifications and Appropriate Body services. Chafford Hundred South Essex Teaching School Hub is a centre of excellence supporting teacher training and development across Basildon, Brentwood, Castle Point, Maldon, Rochford, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock.

What steps she is taking to protect vulnerable people from falling victim to fraud.

The Home Office has supported the rollout of the National Economic Crime Victim Care Unit (NECVCU) to all 43 forces in England and Wales. The aim of NECVCU is to support victims by building their confidence, helping them recover finances, and significantly reducing the likelihood of repeat victimisation. Since its inception in 2018, NECVCU has supported 440,994 victims of fraud and since January 2021, NECVCU has also helped victims recover £3,685,201.Additionally, the Home Office has provided funding to City of London Police to create a coordinated police Fraud Protect Network. The network is made up of local, regional and national law enforcement officers and is designed to reduce the threat of fraud and revictimisation by providing consistent fraud prevention advice to the public.The Home Office continues to engage with banks, trade organisations and third sector organisations to ensure proper advice and support for victims of fraud. Our “Stop! Think Fraud” campaign helps people spot and avoid fraud, and provides fraud prevention and recovery advice. Stop! Think Fraud - How to stay safe from scams.We are also continuing to work with individual sectors to support industry in disrupting attempts at fraud before they reach the public.We launched the Insurance Fraud Charter in November 2024 with key insurance firms to reduce insurance fraud.We are also developing a second telecommunications Charter to ensure the telecommunications sector takes additional steps to identify, prevent and disrupt fraud. Additionally, we are considering legislative action to ban “SIM farms”, technical devices that allow criminals to send scam texts to thousands of people at the same time.The Online Safety Act codes of practice, which will require social media companies to take proactive measures to stop fraud originating on their platforms, will come into effect in March. The Chancellor and the Hom eSecretary have made clear that if insufficient action is taken in this area bu those companies, the Government will consider what further steps need to be taken Later this year, we will also publish an expanded Fraud Strategy that covers the full range of threats that our society faces from this crime.

What preventative steps she is taking to reduce the number of fraud cases.

The Home Office has supported the rollout of the National Economic Crime Victim Care Unit (NECVCU) to all 43 forces in England and Wales. The aim of NECVCU is to support victims by building their confidence, helping them recover finances, and significantly reducing the likelihood of repeat victimisation. Since its inception in 2018, NECVCU has supported 440,994 victims of fraud and since January 2021, NECVCU has also helped victims recover £3,685,201.Additionally, the Home Office has provided funding to City of London Police to create a coordinated police Fraud Protect Network. The network is made up of local, regional and national law enforcement officers and is designed to reduce the threat of fraud and revictimisation by providing consistent fraud prevention advice to the public.The Home Office continues to engage with banks, trade organisations and third sector organisations to ensure proper advice and support for victims of fraud. Our “Stop! Think Fraud” campaign helps people spot and avoid fraud, and provides fraud prevention and recovery advice. Stop! Think Fraud - How to stay safe from scams.We are also continuing to work with individual sectors to support industry in disrupting attempts at fraud before they reach the public.We launched the Insurance Fraud Charter in November 2024 with key insurance firms to reduce insurance fraud.We are also developing a second telecommunications Charter to ensure the telecommunications sector takes additional steps to identify, prevent and disrupt fraud. Additionally, we are considering legislative action to ban “SIM farms”, technical devices that allow criminals to send scam texts to thousands of people at the same time.The Online Safety Act codes of practice, which will require social media companies to take proactive measures to stop fraud originating on their platforms, will come into effect in March. The Chancellor and the Home Secretary have made clear that if insufficient action is taken in this area but those companies, the Government will consider what further steps need to be takenLater this year, we will also publish an expanded Fraud Strategy that covers the full range of threats that our society faces from this crime.

How many passports were revoked due to links to terrorist activity in each month since January 2023.

Since the beginning of 2023, one British passport has been revoked due to links to terrorist activity. This occurred in January 2024.

What recent assessment she has made with Cabinet colleagues of the UK's vulnerability to cyber-terrorism.

The UK is becoming increasingly digital, connected and online. This increases our exposure to a range of cyber threats from a variety of actors.As set out in the UK’s counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST 2023, the threat from terrorism is enduring and evolving, with the threat we see today and in the coming years becoming more diverse, dynamic and complex.Cyber terrorism was part of the threat landscape used to inform the CONTEST 2023 strategy and we remain constantly vigilant to new terrorist and cyber tactics.This government is committed to maintaining investment in critical threat assessment capabilities, including through the world-class Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC) and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).We continue to use all of HMG’s available levers to disrupt cyber threats and to keep the public safe.

How much funding the National Economic Crime Victim Care Unit has received in each of the last three years.

Home Office investment in the National Economic Crime Victim Care Unit (NECVCU) for each of the last three financial years (FY) is set out below.The table sets out actual spend in financial years 2022/23 and 2023/24, and the indicative budget allocation for financial year 2024/25. All figures are provided to 1 decimal place: FY 2022/23 Actual SpendFY 2023/24 Actual SpendFY 2024/25 Indicative BudgetHome Office Investment£2.2m£3.2m£3.5m

How many people have been convicted for offences related to human trafficking since January 2020.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of convictions for human trafficking offences at criminal courts in England and Wales in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly: June 2024.

What steps her Department is taking to ensure that young people leave school equipped with relevant skills for working life.

The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, covering ages 5 to 18, chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE.The review will seek to deliver a curriculum that ensures children and young people leave compulsory education ready for life and ready for work, and one that builds the knowledge, skills and attributes young people need to seize opportunity and to thrive in the changing workplace. This includes weaving speaking and listening skills, as well as digital and other life skills, into their learning.The review group will publish an interim report in early spring setting out its initial findings and confirming the key areas for further work. Its final report, with recommendations, will be published this autumn. We will take decisions on what changes to make in light of these recommendations.

How many cases of child sex trafficking have been identified in the UK in each of the last five years; and what steps she is taking to ensure (a) accurate and (b) transparent data collection for those crimes.

The trafficking of children for sexual exploitation is a truly horrific crime. This Government has set out an unprecedented mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade, and we will use all the levers available to us to deliver this. This will include working closely with law enforcement partners, such as the Tackling Organised Exploitation Programme (TOEX), which continues work to develop a whole system approach to improving intelligence, analysis, and tasking to enhance law enforcement response to the exploitation of vulnerable people, including victims of trafficking, sexual exploitation, and abuse.The following table shows the number of referrals to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM, the framework for identifying and referring potential victims of modern slavery to appropriate support) for (partial or whole) sexual exploitation for children, at age of exploitation.YearNRM referrals for (either partial or whole) sexual exploitation for children at age of exploitation2020824202194320221115202311182024 (up to Q3)1036In addition to the statutory support local authorities provide to victims of modern slavery, for potential child victims, the Government has rolled out the Independent Child Trafficking Guardian (ICTG) service to two thirds of local authorities in England and Wales. The ICTG service is currently delivered by Barnardo’s.

If she will make an assessment of the adequacy of HMRC's policies on supporting victims of fraud.

The Treasury and HMRC have frequent discussions on a wide range of issues relating to policy development and delivery. Furthermore, HMRC regularly review their policies on the support they provide to customers who need extra help, which includes but is not limited to victims of fraud.

What recent discussions her Department has had with victims of fraud on their experiences with HMRC.

The Treasury and HMRC have frequent discussions on a wide range of issues relating to policy development and delivery. Furthermore, HMRC regularly review their policies on the support they provide to customers who need extra help, which includes but is not limited to victims of fraud.

What recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the Action Fraud reporting system.

This Government is committed to working with law enforcement, civil society and industry to better protect the public and businesses from fraud.The current technology used by the Action Fraud service is outdated and cannot cope with demand, with fraud and cyber crime now accounting for an estimated 49% of all crime recorded in the Crime Survey for England and Wales.We are replacing the current Action Fraud service with a new, improved service. The to provide better support services and reporting tools for victims, provide greater intelligence to law enforcement, and allow for greater prevention and disruption at scale.

What steps her Department is taking to (a) identify and (b) prevent child sex trafficking.

The trafficking of children for sexual exploitation is a truly horrific crime. This Government has set out an unprecedented mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade, and we will use all the levers available to us to deliver this. This will include working closely with law enforcement partners, such as the Tackling Organised Exploitation Programme (TOEX), which continues work to develop a whole system approach to improving intelligence, analysis, and tasking to enhance law enforcement response to the exploitation of vulnerable people, including victims of trafficking, sexual exploitation, and abuse.The following table shows the number of referrals to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM, the framework for identifying and referring potential victims of modern slavery to appropriate support) for (partial or whole) sexual exploitation for children, at age of exploitation.YearNRM referrals for (either partial or whole) sexual exploitation for children at age of exploitation2020824202194320221115202311182024 (up to Q3)1036In addition to the statutory support local authorities provide to victims of modern slavery, for potential child victims, the Government has rolled out the Independent Child Trafficking Guardian (ICTG) service to two thirds of local authorities in England and Wales. The ICTG service is currently delivered by Barnardo's.

Media and Sport, what plans she has to maintain historic places of worship.

There is a range of funding available via DCMS and the Department’s Arm’s-Length Bodies that supports places of worship. These include Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme; the National Lottery Heritage Fund, who have committed to investing around £100m between 2023 and 2026 to support places of worship; the Churches Conservation Trust, which funds repairs and maintenance of over 350 churches in the CCT portfolio; and Historic England's Heritage At Risk grants, funding £9 million worth of repairs to buildings on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk register between April 2024 and March 2025.We will shortly announce the outcomes of the Business Planning process, including for the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme.

What steps her Department is taking to lower rates of student absence in secondary schools in (a) Essex and (b) South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency.

This government is determined to tackle the generational challenge of school absence which is a fundamental barrier to learning and life chances. Missing school regularly is harmful to a child’s attainment, safety and physical and mental health, which limits their opportunity to succeed. There is evidence that more students are attending school this year compared to last, thanks to the sector’s efforts, although around 1.6 million children remain persistently absent and miss 10% or more of lessons.Central to the department’s approach are stronger expectations of local authorities and schools, as set out in the ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance, which was made statutory on 19 August 2024 and can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance. The guidance promotes a 'support first' approach, and sets out clear expectations on how schools, trusts, local authorities and wider services, including those in Essex and South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency, should work together and with families to address attendance barriers and provide the right support, including where a pupil is not attending due to special educational needs.Every state school in England should now be sharing their daily attendance register data with the department, local authorities and trusts. These bodies can access this data through a secure, interactive dashboard which is maintained by the department, allowing them to target attendance interventions more effectively.The department recognises the importance of creating opportunities within the sector to share existing best practice on how to improve attendance. This is why the department set up a network of 31 attendance hubs, who have offered support to 2000 primary, secondary and alternative provision schools, including in Essex, and shared their strategies and resources for improving attendance. Bringing together best practice from the hubs, we have also published an attendance toolkit which aims to support schools to identify the drivers of absence in their setting and address these. The toolkit can be accessed here: https://attendancetoolkit.blob.core.windows.net/toolkit-doc/Attendance%20toolkit%20for%20schools.pdf.In addition to this work, the department also aims to improve the existing evidence on which interventions work to improve attendance. Over £17 million is being invested across two mentoring projects that will support at least 12,000 pupils in 15 areas. These programmes will be evaluated and the effective practice shared with schools and local authorities nationally.From early 2025, new Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence (RISE) teams will support all state schools by facilitating networking, sharing best practice across areas, including attendance, and empowering schools to access support and learn from one another. For schools requiring more intensive support, RISE teams and supporting organisations will work collaboratively with their responsible body to agree bespoke packages of targeted support and challenge, based on a school’s particular circumstances.School attendance is also supported by broader investments, such as funded breakfast clubs across all primary schools to ensure children start their day ready to learn. The department is working across government on plans to provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, new Young Futures hubs, including access to mental health support workers, and an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults. Additionally, the department will initiate new annual Ofsted reviews focusing on safeguarding, attendance, and off-rolling.Schools can also allocate pupil premium funding, which has now increased to over £2.9 billion for the 2024/25 financial year, to support pupils with identified needs to attend school regularly.

What steps her Department is taking to help prevent bullying in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in Essex.

All schools must have a behaviour policy with measures to prevent all forms of bullying. They are free to develop their own anti-bullying strategies to suit their specific needs and are held to account by Ofsted.Schools must take a strong stand against all forms of bullying and should tackle bullying at the earliest opportunity to prevent it from escalating, particularly given the impact it can have on pupils, both emotionally and physically.​The department has published advice to support schools with addressing incidents of bullying. The guidance is clear that schools should make appropriate provision for a bullied child's social, emotional and mental health needs. The guidance is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/625ee64cd3bf7f6004339db8/Preventing_and_tackling_bullying_advice.pdf.​The department has also published a practical tool to help schools, which can be found on the Educate Against Hate website. It is available here: https://educateagainsthate.com/resources/respectful-school-communities-self-review-signposting-tool-2/.

Food and Rural Affairs, what percentage of British produce is being brought in (a) hospitals, (b) army bases and (c) prisons.

This data was not collected at any point by the last Government. However, the new Government wants to fix the unequal playing field for British farmers attempting to bid into the £5 billion spent each year on public sector catering contracts. As a first step, we are committed to working with industry to create a baseline, then monitor the food currently bought in the public sector and where it is bought from, as announced at the Oxford Farming Conference this week so we can ensure future support to enter this important supply chain, which would need to be consistent with our domestic and international legal obligations, is effective.

Pursuant to the Answer of 12 December 2024 to Question 18093 on Education: Access, what progress the Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence teams are making on engaging with schools.

The new Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence (RISE) teams will begin in early 2025, with their first RISE advisers in post this January.Once established, RISE teams will engage schools to facilitate networking and sharing best practice, bringing together oversight and coordination of improvement programmes to empower schools so that they can better access this support and learn from one another. For schools that require more intensive support, the new RISE teams will work with their responsible body and supporting organisations to agree bespoke packages of targeted support, based on a school’s particular circumstances.